You're the Reason - J. Nathan Page 0,39

have to have the awkward it’s-not-you-it’s-me talk.”

“I already had that talk.”

His brows shot up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. So, next time you’re thinking about doing something crappy, don’t. Ryan’s always been nice to me. And, I’m not someone to rub something in someone else’s face.”

“Sorry,” he said, and I hoped he understood where I was coming from.

I looked around his room as he grabbed some clothes from his drawer and stuffed them into his backpack. His bed was neatly made, no clothes lay anywhere in the room, and he had one picture on his nightstand. I picked it up, hoping it wasn’t a photo of him and Chantel. Relief washed over me when I found it was a picture of him standing between an older man and woman. “Are these your parents?”

He glanced to the picture and nodded.

“No siblings?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Just me.”

“Were you that much of a handful?”

A slow smile spread across his lips. “Depends who you ask. My mom would say I can do no wrong.”

“She clearly doesn’t know you.”

He laughed.

I examined the photo. “You look like your mom.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her you said that. Everyone says I look like my dad.”

He and his dad had the same icy blue eyes. But the rest of his features, including those faint dimples, belonged to his mom. “It’s a nice picture.”

“Yeah? I’m gonna have to replace it with a picture of you and me.”

I rolled my eyes. “If whatever this is even lasts past the weekend.”

“Come again?” he said, more of a threat than a question.

“Well, you do tend to piss me off whenever you open your mouth.”

“Oh, I don’t plan on doing a whole lot of talking tonight,” he said with a smirk on his lips.

I swallowed down my sudden nerves. I hadn’t held onto my virginity this long to give it up to a guy who just kind of broke up with my roommate who wasn’t really his girlfriend. I thought we’d get to know each other before sex was even on the table.

Was I naïve to have thought that?

“Stop stressing, Soph. I know. And I’m not about to force myself on you tonight. I was joking.”

I released a silent breath.

He threw his backpack onto his back and reached for my hand again. As we made our way downstairs and out the front door, I prayed I wasn’t making a huge mistake.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I expected Chase to walk to the parking lot behind the frat house to grab his SUV, but he led me down the front sidewalk. “You don’t mind walking, do you?”

I shook my head as we headed toward my dorm, the music from the frat house fading into the darkness. Crickets chirped and the light of the partial moon accompanied us as we walked in comfortable silence, alone and free to do as we pleased.

“If you didn’t show up at the party,” Chase said, “I was gonna show up at your dorm.”

“You could’ve just sent an Uber,” I deadpanned.

Laughter burst out of him, and the sweet sound brought on my own laughter.

He squeezed my hand. “I’m glad you came.” He tugged me in a different direction than my dorm. “I wanna show you something.” He led me toward the quad. The area was deserted and peaceful late at night—such a contrast to a busy school day when students crisscrossed in every different direction.

Chase moved us toward one of the old cobblestone buildings surrounding the quad. An old plaque on the front of the building read: Established in 1885. We walked around to the side of the two-story building. An old metal ladder ran from the top of the building to just even with the first-floor window. “Here.” Chase stepped behind me, grasping my hips. “Reach up and climb to the top.”

I looked back at him, confused. “What?”

“Just reach up and I’m gonna lift you.”

“Ummm…”

“Oh, damn. Can you not climb with your knee?”

“My knee’s fine. But, are you coming, too?”

He laughed. “No, I’m gonna leave you up there all alone.”

I reached for the first bar on the ladder as Chase lifted me off my feet. I grasped hold of it and pulled myself up to the second rung, climbing the rest of the way like a girl not used to climbing ladders. When I finally reached the top, I threw my leg over the turret-type ledge less gracefully than I wished and climbed to the flat surface of the roof. Though only two stories high, my legs shook beneath me as I looked down at the